To ask ex teachers why they give up teaching?

[malificent7]

Im hoping to leave education in order go retrain.

For me it's the workload... i dont want to work from 8am to 11pm every day.
I also hate being blamed for student's bad behaviour and being told that if my lessons were x, y ansmd z there would be perfect behaviour.
Also lack of power and toold to dicipline students with.
The realisation that working g in a pricate school was far more difficult tgan working in the state sectir ( parents expect blood/ kids over entitled )
contracts are now mostly fixed term.

I could go on!

Please share!

Im not the only one then!

The bullying culture is horrendous ime. I was bullied when pregnant, bullied out of a private school, bullied in my last job.

Whilst on supply i was asked not to come back as i yelled at a class for bullying my colleague.

The kids have all the power and the phrase ' school bully' applies to staff aswell as students.

I trained as a secondary teacher but never worked as one.

My training was absolutely woeful. No practical training at all in classroom management/behaviour management etc. My placements taught me nothing - the teachers I worked with needed a break, saw me coming in as someone to do their work for then and I got no training or leadership at all.

I'm a TA in a primary now.

For me it was a combination of the workload and the realisation, quite early on, that I didn't have the personality to control a classroom of children. It was very stressful being "on" all the time. I saw some great teachers who could control the class with a few stern looks and a well-placed word but I unfortunately wasn't one of them.
I'm so glad I left. I am poorer but much happier in my current job.

The bullying and blame culture.
Not seeing friends and family during term time.
Always feeling stressed and guilty about not doing enough and having a very poor work/life balance.
Knowing that the children were being used as data pawns.

Mostly the bullying from SLT.

I resigned to move abroad after 5 years teaching to join dh, as HM Forces had given him consecutive foreign postings. My marriage and ds took precedence over my career. It took 18 months for me to stop waking up at 0500 having a panic that I hadn't done my planning.

I am a senior examiner for my subject at GCSE,so still have my hand in, but I don't know if I'd go back when we return to the UK.

Impossible targets - I taught an arts subject at secondary and targets came from English/Maths which bore no resemblance to their ability in my subject.
The blame culture, it was my fault when the pupils didn't achieve even if they didn't put any work in, the pressure to put extra sessions on, give pupils more chances (came out of my time), focus on exams/catch up sessions so that extra-curricular became difficult to run.
Lack of trust. I'm now trusted to do my job, which took a long time to get used to, no one checks up on me constantly and I don't feel like senior management are trying to trip me up.
I was in the classroom for 12 years and would go back tomorrow if the culture changed, but my family and mental health need to come first.

I was the Head of an ASC school but I was sick of the blame culture. I was shocked by how parents attitudes had changed as well as all the hours I spent trying to get everything done.

These threads always make me so sad. I'm so sorry you've all been treated so appallingly.

I always want to come on and say this though, for the sake of trainees/nqts etc who might freak out when reading this!

It's not always like this. It doesn't have to be like this. They may be few and far between but there are schools out there that are managed well, and where despite financial restraints you can have a work life balance, you can progress your career, you can be happy and love your job. I'm in a school like this (it wasn't always this way, but new leadership in the last few years has made it happen)

I'm not saying don't leave the profession, I know that sometimes there is no alternative. But sometimes there is!

I am really worried now :-( I was going to start teacher training at the end of my degree, now i might rethink! I definitely wouldn't be able to put up with a blame culture

Gerry, I agree, there are some schools that are not as we have described (I'm in one now but it isn't a state school). However, because of how awful I found it in my previous school, I couldn't risk going back into the state sector. It's sad actually.

We ran an alternative provision facility. The kids were from the local PRU.

Some of them were psychopaths. Some were easily led. One ended up pulling a knife in the other, although we were not convinced there was a knife and it had all been a set up (didn't happen on our premises) and we decided that actually, by the time they get to 14 the damage is so horrific in some kids that we are not likely to make an impact, and we might be the ones being set up. So we ended it. Plus having all the stress of running it with my name at the bottom was horrendous.

I did supply. The bad teaching I saw was shocking. The second place I went to I had to make a report about the 'head's' behaviour and bullying of one 7 yr old. And then they took half my wages so I knocked that on the head.

Never again. The system is broken. The good teachers are not enough to prop up the bad management and terrible teaching.

Workload. In order to just keep on top of marking and having lessons ready for the week I was working almost all weekend and over 12 hour days. It was unsustainable and I started to resent the fact my friends and family with better paid jobs seemed to have so much free time compared with me.

Stress. I would literally feel my blood pressure rise when 32 14 year olds would walk into the classroom. I started to get anxiety stomachaches, particularly with the almost weekly learning walks and lesson obs. Almost had a panic attack when I was threatened by a pupil and used to cry most mornings before school. I never dropped the ball, always got great obs and exam results but I felt that I would if I continued.

However since leaving I have worked as a teacher in different settings - special needs, tutoring, further education, and absolutely loved it.

My husband is a teacher in an inner city secondary school and the stories he tells me are just beyond belief regarding their behaviour.

He said he once gave a boy a detention slip because of getting aggressive towards another pupil and the boy took the slip off my DH, ripped it up into pieces in my DH's face and said, "I ain't fucking going so fuck off!" and then just walked away. How are you supposed to deal with that?

There was an incident a few weeks ago where the police were called and had two arrest two female pupils as they were throwing furniture at the staff, hitting the staff and then went into the car park and vandalised staff cars. I read DH's statement (as he was witness to it) and I was gob smacked at the violence the two girls had shown.

DH says every day is the same and teaching is no longer about teaching, it's just 6 hours of behaviour management and shouting at children who sinpky aren't interested and don't give a damn.

It's quite sad really.

Prior to this school he worked in a much smaller Catholic School and by God he misses it - he says the differences are phenomenal in terms of behaviour and attitudes.

He left that job to move to this one due to it being a promotion but he has no intention of staying at this school. He started looking for jobs elsewhere within 4 months of working there.

He said he used to love teaching and now every day he absolutely dreads going into work. I feel really sorry for him.

I retrained.
I loved working with young people all day - it was fun.
I hated the hours and the workload. The endless planning and marking.
Mostly though I hated the school and the management style. I basically think that teachers are great at managing a classroom and they use the same techniques to manage staff. That was the most dispiriting experience for me - I got no support whatsoever. I would seriously caution anyone about retraining to teach.

My contract ended, and I took it as an opportunity to spend some time nurturing my own young children. I simply couldn't be a good mum and jump through all the hoops. I owe my children more than other peoples'.

The target/ data culture means teaching to the test and sucks the joy out of learning.

I'm in one of Gove's chosen subjects so my GCSE groups were getting larger and having more and more disinterested students that had lost the opportunity to do creative or vocational subjects and were being shoehorned in through a small list of choices.

The targets are often irrelevant, based on SATs results that they were coached for years ago in another subject. (When I had to have my 5 year old in with me due to strike action, I got him to finally explain a concept to these 15 year olds who were targeted at Bs and Cs yet could barely string a written sentence together)

Strong blame culture and fear of capability proceedings. Difficult parents being unsupportive and undermining. Unsupportive management (actually, my last school was supportive, I had great colleagues, and the systems were quite efficient, but that's been ripped up by the new head since I left)

Constant change for changes sake. Constantly replanning, no funds for new resourcing so all resources have to be made yourself. They must be active and engaging and on minimal paper as, the printing budget is very, very finite.

The paperwork/ double marking got to the stage where some days I'd resent the lesson time for getting in the way, of the admin. Workload. Taking your 5 year old in in the holidays for "film day" on the projector because the 50 GCSE books were too heavy to lug home. The poor kid spent more time in childcare than the European Working Time Directive and he didn't have the option to opt out.

I love teaching, despite the behaviour and lack of pens, but the superfluous admin/ marking load has finished me. My dad worked himself to death in his early 50s (not teaching). I'm not volunteering to work myself to death in any sector.

I intended to take a few years off and go back when my child started school but with my child's needs that wasn't possible.
If I ever do go back to working in education I think it would be unlikely to be in a mainstream setting. I came across some awful attitudes towards my child whilst he was in mainstream and although it was only a few staff it is enough to put me off working in that environment again.

Working 10 hour days in school, then taking work home every evening and working 1 day each weekend. Also working for part of the school holidays despite what other people think.

I worked out that I was earning less per hour than the school cleaner. Not saying she didn't deserve it - she was lovely, worked hard and had horrible things to clean sometimes. But surely a teacher should earn more. I was tempted to apply for a cleaning job.

That feeling that absolutely everything was my fault - from a child not concentrating when the headteacher walked past my classroom, to a lost cardigan, to a mistake made by someone else in school, (office staff, TA, etc) to the wrong surname on a coat peg label. (It was the name on the register from the local authority!)

Aggressive parents - I frequently felt in danger.

Sitting through long, pointless meetings after school knowing that I still had all my other work to do once it had finished.

Not wanting to tell people that I was a teacher, as I knew I was likely to have to listen to a rant about a. my holidays or b. how rubbish their teacher or their child's teacher is/was. I started telling people I was a housewife.

Wow its shocking to read those. I teach in lreland in Primary and have done for over 30 years.. l have taught in lovely schools and have thoroughly enjoyed my career. Its busy. Its demanding . But its perfectly doable and l love it. I do not do those hours. I have my holidays to myself ecxept for planning here and there but nothing too strenuous and easily managed. My heart goes out to people leaving teaching because of bullying and total over the top expectations. Its a disgrace.

Bullying and blame. Whatever you do isn't enough. Parents shouting at me in the street and in front of my own children Having to always suck things up. A board member and governor turning up on my doorstep on a Saturday morning to shout at me and there being no consequence for this. Never the children. They are a delight and a joy.

I gave up when attempting to keep up with the workload made me physically ill.

Nothing is ever good enough. SLT will always find fault and want extra this that or the next thing. Marking of the children's work is the same - no matter how good the work was, you always have to give 'next steps' or 'challenges' which gets demoralising for the children too.

The workload is insane. I was in a Primary which expected every single piece of work to be fully marked. The printed Marking Policy said twice a week, but we'd get hauled up in book scrutinies if it wasn't all marked.

Stupid performance targets - 85% of summerborn boys had to meet their reading goal. I had two, one with SEN. Target therefore never met. And similar for other tiny subdivisions of the class.

Put this all together and I was marking & planning to midnight. Working all weekend. Then it started to effect me physically and I'd be thowing up each morning.

Tired teachers are snappy grumpy teachers and I hated what I was becoming.

Then add in a succession of vile bullying parents. One pupil used to make up all sorts of stories about what I'd said or done in class. 32 witnesses said I didn't, but the mum would continue to repeat the lies to anyone who'd listen.

I was signed off sick for 2 weeks. The Head contacted me once - to check whether I'd still manage to get the reports written. My phased return request was denied.

I have to say, I mostly enjoy my job. I spent 3 years training and it was 90% miserable. Out of 4 schools, only one treated me like a human being. I had a massive breakdown in my final placement, nearly didn't finish.

Just finished my NQT year in a school I like going in to. I have friends. Me and my previous partner teacher and now my new partner teacher get on brilliantly which helps.

I hate the work load. I feel like I give my class of 30 9/10 year olds more of my time and attention than my own 3 year old DD. I remind myself that those children get nothing from their parents and need someone to care about them but it doesn't stop me from feeling so much guilt for my DD.

I'm a TA. Love the kids (most of them), hate the culture. Everything we do has to be justified. I'm rarely in the classroom now but running interventions. I have to deliver reports on each intervention for each child and show progress. I'm not allowed to address behaviour (that's for teachers) but if I don't address behaviour I'm labelled as ineffective.

I don't get a break or a lunch as I'm delivering interventions. Others in the same role don't ever have to do this as they refuse, but if I dare ask for a break or lunchtime off I'm treated like I've completely overstepped the mark.

Apparently it's going to get worse in September. Our log in and out times are going to be scrutinised, our performance scrutinised, and we have to justify being in our jobs.

I bring home just short of £900 a month. It's not worth it.

For similar reasons to everyone else, workload, stress, etc.
Not the actual teaching, I really enjoyed that and miss it.
I don't miss spending all weekend working or the 3am waking up in a panic.

I left because of poor health, and started working with children who didn't attend school due to their own poor health. It was marvellous. Bit of a pain trying to get resources from their schools but most were fine once they realised I was a "proper" teacher . I am a SAHM now, and won't go back to work until youngest is in school. Not sure what I'll go back to. Obviously teaching works best for holidays, but not if I never see my children during term time.

This is my final year after 23 years in the classroom. DH and I are escaping London next summer and no more class teaching for me is part of the deal.
Whilst the workload, pointless learning walks and accountability are major contributing factors ( last year I had a child who made no progress in Maths and barley any in literacy - member of SLT marches into my room in April to query this lack of progress, I point out her mother died just before Christmas after a tragic short illness, the whole family were in pieces and struggling to cope and we had put in lots of emotional support. I was told the child needed to come in before or after school to prep for Sats as there was a chance they would 'fail' - it didn't happen, but I remember thinking at the time that that a less experienced/ confident colleague may not have been able to stand up to management.)
For me there are other reasons. The need to 'appease' difficult parents. For example - I had to have a meeting with the mother of the child who screamed at me 'you're a f-ing bitch' in front of the whole class where she spent 30mins telling me how she avoids his 'outbursts' at home - basically give into him (I'm all for liaising with parents and pride myself on building good relationships but this was a step too far). Or the parent who complained when I kept her child in for 10 mins at lunchtime because her DC had spent 15mins in the toilet during English (the child had spent the previous 15 minutes avoiding her work, I knew exactly what she was doing and it was not a 15 minute poo!)
My pension is also another reason why I'm getting out in my mid 40s. I can't do this until I'm 68 (and I'm pretty sure that number will creep up). I've loved my last 20+years in the class, but want to quit whilst I'm ahead, I don't have another 20 years in me - and I'm too honest outspoken to put up with the SLT and (minority) of pushy parents that will come my way. I'm lucky, I started teaching in London at a time when teachers could afford to buy a property, I'm cashing up and getting out. I do feel for the younger generation, but they are increasingly jumping ship and I do fear for the future of my profession, it has been at a tipping point for years and it seems to me it is starting to tip over.